Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The King of Peace Is Coming
11 A branch will grow
from a stump of a tree that was cut down.
So a new king will come
from the family of Jesse.[a]
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon that king.
The Spirit gives him wisdom, understanding, guidance and power.
And the Spirit teaches him to know and respect the Lord.
3 This king will be glad to obey the Lord.
He will not judge by the way things look.
He will not judge by what people say.
4 He will judge the poor honestly.
He will be fair in his decisions for the poor people of the land.
At his command evil people will be punished.
By his words the wicked will be put to death.
5 Goodness and fairness will give him strength.
They will be like a belt around his waist.
6 Then wolves will live in peace with lambs.
And leopards will lie down to rest with goats.
Calves, lions and young bulls will eat together.
And a little child will lead them.
7 Cows and bears will eat together in peace.
Their young will lie down together.
Lions will eat hay as oxen do.
8 A baby will be able to play near a cobra’s hole.
A child will be able to put his hand into the nest of a poisonous snake.
9 They will not hurt or destroy each other
on all my holy mountain.
The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the sea is full of water.
20 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Move away from these men. In a minute I will destroy them.”
22 But Moses and Aaron bowed facedown. They cried out, “God, you are the God over the spirits of all people. Please don’t be angry with this whole group. Only one man has really sinned.”
23 Then the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Tell everyone to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.”
25 Moses stood and went to Dathan and Abiram. The elders of Israel followed him. 26 Moses warned the people, “Move away from the tents of these evil men! Don’t touch anything of theirs. If you do, you will be destroyed because of their sins.” 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were standing outside their tents with their wives, children and little babies.
28 Then Moses said, “Now you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things. It was not my idea. 29 If these men die a normal death—the way men usually die—then the Lord did not really send me. 30 But if the Lord does something new, you will know they have insulted the Lord. The earth will open and swallow them. Alive, they will go to where the dead are. And everything that belongs to them will go with them.”
31 When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men opened up. 32 The earth seemed to open its mouth and swallow them. All their families, all Korah’s men and everything they owned went down. 33 They were buried alive, going to where the dead are. And everything they owned went with them. Then the earth closed over them. They died and were gone from the community. 34 The people of Israel around them heard their screams. They ran away and said, “The earth will swallow us, too!”
35 Then a fire came down from the Lord. It destroyed the 250 men who had presented the incense.
23 Paul and the Jews chose a day for a meeting. On that day many more of the Jews met with Paul at the place he was staying. Paul spoke to them all day long, explaining the kingdom of God to them. He tried to persuade them to believe these things about Jesus. He used the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets to do this. 24 Some of the Jews believed what Paul said, but others did not. 25 So they argued, and the Jews were ready to leave. But Paul said one more thing to them: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet. He said,
26 ‘Go to this people and say:
You will listen and listen, but you will not understand.
You will look and look, but you will not learn.
27 For these people have become stubborn.
They don’t hear with their ears.
And they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise, they might really understand
what they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears.
They might really understand in their minds.
If they did this, they would come back to me and be forgiven.’ Isaiah 6:9-10
28 “I want you Jews to know that God has also sent his salvation to the non-Jewish people. They will listen!” 29 [After Paul said this, the Jews left. They were arguing very much with each other.][a]
30 Paul stayed two full years in his own rented house. He welcomed all people who came and visited him. 31 He preached about the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. He was very bold, and no one stopped him.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.